5 Musicians Who Refused to Boycott Israel
Elton John
Elton John played a show in the Holy Land in 2010, despite pressure from pro-Palestinian activists and fellow artists to boycott Israel. While performing in Tel Aviv, the British icon informed the crowd “No one could have stopped us from coming to perform in Israel.” John also had a message to those who attempted to stop his visit, saying “We’re spreading peace and love on this stage and we’re happy to be here. ” He added that as a musician, his job was to spread love and peace, and that “we don’t cherry-pick our conscience,” a line for which he received extended applause.
Alicia Keys
The initial call for Keys to boycott Israel came from the anti-Israel author Alice Walker, who is knownfor refusing to allow “The Color Purple” to be translated into Hebrew. Walker wrote to Keys a letter saying that “a cultural boycott of Israel and Israeli institutions (not individuals) is the only option left to artists who cannot bear the unconscionable harm Israel inflicts every day on the people of Palestine, whose major ‘crime’ is that they exist in their own land, land that Israel wants to control as its own.This is actually a wonderful opportunity for you to learn about something sorrowful, and amazing: that our government (Obama in particular) supports a system that is cruel, unjust, and unbelievably evil.”
Other groups and artists (Roger Waters in particular) joined in, urging Keys to cancer her show in the Holy Land. While Keys did not make an official reply to these groups, she told the New York Times, “I look forward to my first visit to Israel. Music is a universal language that is meant to unify audiences in peace and love, and that is the spirit of our show.”
Madonna
While Madonna’s love for all things Jewish, Kabbalah, and the land of Israel is pretty common knowledge, the icon still faced some harsh condemnation from anti-Israel groups when she decided to launch her world tour in Tel Aviv.
Madonna told the audience that she had chosen the Holy Land as her opening venue in order to emphasize the need for peace. “I chose to start my world tour in Israel for a very specific and important reason. As you know, the Middle East and all the conflicts that occur here and that have been occurring for thousands of years, they have to stop. You can’t be a fan of mine and not want peace in the world.”
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